Hitman: Absolution

A major change from previous installments is the disguise system. Now, wearing an outfit you will be recognized by someone of the same profession. While it's an interesting addition it makes disguises much less useful. Furthermore, on many occasions you start a level with guards/police already on high alert. This forces you to do much more sneaking. Often, the best way to advance is to throw random stuff to distract guards and eliminate them one by one which is repetitive, and if you make a mistake you have to start over. There are no saves in this game only checkpoints which have an annoying bug - if you start from a checkpoint the level is reset - all guards you subdued are back, negating your progress. The levels are much more lively. NPC chat with each other and I often stopped just to listen to some of their dialogue. This is a welcome change, though I missed the ominous silence of the earlier games. Some of the climate is lost. Graphics deserve a praise. Locations are detailed, textures are high quality, shadows and lighting make o great impression. Unfortunately, levels are much more linear and often don't provide alternative methods to approach your targets. The plot is very dumb. An affluent weapons manufacturer gets into troublesome and dangerous affairs only to demand measly $10 million ransom? A group of latex-clad nuns in stiletto boots working as assassins? The hitman agency deploying a small army? If you're new to the series - add 1 star to this review.

I thought Absolution was pretty bad. The story, the characters, the mechanics, the level design, even the music - it was all wrong. There were a few rare moments when everything clicked together and for a while there I felt like I was playing a worthy sequel to Blood Money, but it happened twice in the entire game? Maybe three times? In fact, the Contracts mode felt the most like Hitman, overall. To me, this game is like a high-budget, star-filled Hollywood remake of a classic film that never needed a remake in the first place. So instead of Blood Money 2 we got more of a Michael Bay's Hitman. But at least David Bateson is still the voice of 47.

Hitman Absolution is a great game in many aspects, it introduced many ideas and concepts that made it outstanding. However it differs too much from the original experience of the old Hitman games, that calling it "Hitman", is not the best title that could fit in. Let´s start with the positive aspects: 1ºGraphics: It looks impressively good!, the models look well, and the dark atmosphere and tone makes it much better, if you liked Hitman Contracts, then definitely you will like the graphics. 2ºStory: It´s not complex indeed, and sometimes fails with some cliché moments, but we've got the best Story in a Hitman game along with Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, that involves both personal and business on a hitman´s life. 3ºGameplay and Disguise System: Very polished and challenging in many aspects, by far the most realistic one in all the series. 4º Challenges and Hints: Unlike the old Hitman Games, this game has got a lot of challenges and it is highly replayable, with many ways to beat a single mission that will challenge your logic at high levels. Now with the negative aspects: 1ºMap Design: The maps are pretty linear and story-wise driven, in which you have to go to Section A to Section B in the way you like to, by stealth, killing or using a disguise, but it doesn't give you freedom to go where you like. It's not like the old titles, that gives the player the freedom to experiment with the environment always, only some maps in this game will grant you that. 2ºLack of Consistency: In this game you are supposed to be a Hitman, but due to the events sometimes you act more like Agent 007 than a hitman itself, with many cliché traps and a big etc. 3ºRating System: The rating Silent Assassin, is not available in all the maps. because the score is not high enough to give you that rating, even if you manage to do it perfect, the game simply will ignore that fact, not polished at all. Again it´s a solid title, i really recommend it. I'll give it a: 8.5/10

This is the first Hitman game I have played and I have to say that Agent 47 is already up there on my list of the most badass protagonists in computer games. This isn't only true of him as portrayed by the cutscene, but true of how you get to play as him as well... On Normal and Hard mode, at least. It was a lot of fun being a superhuman badass, infiltrating seemingly impenetrable places, or just shooting up a whole church full of bad guys like it was nothing. My only fault with this game is its bad cover system. I say "bad" because cover systems have been perfected at this point considering just how many modern computer games implement a cover mechanic. In this game, I felt like I was sliding in and out of cover by accident even up 'till the very end of the game. It could have been done better. I am also not a big fan of x-ray visions, slow-motion easy-kills and such, but it sure fits the character. Still, I would have preferred it if the game had some other, less extreme way of helping me feel like a badass. Similarly, the constant scoring of your actions is annoying and takes me out of the game. Suddenly, I don't want to do stuff the fun way, but the 'efficient and high score' way. Lastly, difficulty is another problem. On Normal and Hard mode the game is pretty easy. You can go guns blazing through the whole game without using much stealth at all. On higher difficulties, the game relies on your knowledge of the levels. I think the designers expected you to have completed the game once or twice before, as the game's challenge depends on you just remembering the one or two viable paths you can take; experimentation is no longer an option. Still, I recommend Hitman: Absolution. It's fun!

The only issue Absolution had when it was first released, there was a graphics option that would cause the game to get kind of unstable in the final mission, can't remember the name of the setting but it looks like the GOG version doesn't even have it, so I'm hoping the GOG version is more stable. Having said that, I do like Absolution quite a bit, unlike the first two or three Hitman games where one had to start over if their cover was blown, the player has the option to go postal or stealth, and different things are unlocked, so it gives the game more re-play value. The story is also solid, shows 47 has more depth and actually puts a lot on the line to save a child he doesn't even know. The final level used to be quite buggy, not sure if that's the case with the GOG version or not yet but if it isn't, I'll probably come back and give the game 5 stars, if I'm able to edit the review. No clue why some are saying it doesn't work on Windows 10, I'm avoiding that OS. Windows 10 is basically just a fancier version of 7 but they did change some of thei audio files, so that may play into why the game has loading issues.